Bulgarian Orthodox Church Honors Batak Martyrs for 1st Time

16/5/2011

The holy relics of the Bulgarian Batak martyrs will be taken out of the Sveta Nedeliya church in the town for the first time Monday for people to pay homage to them.

A solemn mass is going to be served. The icon of the martyrs is going to be received at 6:30 pm, followed by a procession.

Official guests will lay wreaths and flowers in the church at 8:45 pm. There will be fireworks and a concert dedicated to the 135th anniversary of the April Uprising.

In April 1876, Bulgarian freedom fighters rebelled against the authorities of theOttoman Turkish Empire seeking to liberate their nation and create an independent nation state.

The so called April Uprising was crushed with great violence by Ottoman forces, when an estimated 30 000 Bulgarians, mostly civilians including women, children, and elderly, were slaughtered. Coverage in the European press led to an international outrage and a humanitarian intervention in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.

Between 4000 and 5000 Bulgarians were butchered in the Batak Massacre – in the southern town of Batak – described by journalist MacGahan in a shocking account, while some 700 were slaughtered in the region of Novo Selo, Kravenik,Batoshevo, and Apriltsi – villages in Northern Bulgaria near Lovech.

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church expects Monday guests from the Ecumenical Church, from the Churches of Moscow, Serbia, Romania, Georgia, Alexandria, Greece, Poland, Albania, Cyprus, and the Czech Archbishopric.

The metropolitans from the Bulgarian Holy Synod and all bishops of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church are going to be present as well.

The Holy Synod made the decision to canonize the Batak martyrs in April, 2011.
The victims include the severely slaughtered local priests Petar and Neycho, Trendafil Toshev, people named Ivan, Iliya etc, but most of their names remain unknown.

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